1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to document processing and, more particularly, to a system and method for embedding a digital document with instructions to be performed by networked document processing devices
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, processing the digital contents of a document at some processing device or node, such as a printer, scanner, facsimile (FAX), multifunction processor (MFP), or the like, requires that the processing device be preset to perform a specific operation or sequence of operations. This predefined set of operations is necessarily performed on all documents or digital content reaching this particular device. Dynamically changing the way the digital content is processed requires at least some human involvement in changing the settings of the processing device. Alternately stated, the processing knowledge, or document processing instructions, is directly associated with the processing device, since the device is preset for a specific operation.
With conventional document processing, a digital document can travel from point “A” to point “B”, where predefined operations are performed. Then, the document travels to point “C” for some additional predefined processing. Any dynamic changes to the above processing flow are difficult to implement. In situations where dynamic changes to the processing instructions are required, they must be implemented by a human operator. This type of dynamic processing is very costly, time consuming, inefficient, and prone to error.
It would be advantageous if processing instructions for a digital document processor device could be dynamically updated in an easy manner.
It would be advantageous if processing instructions for a document processor device could be network-communicated with the digital document to be processed.